Crossword clues for idiom
idiom
- ''Talk turkey,'' e.g
- ''Kick the bucket,'' for one
- You shouldn't take it literally
- White lightning, e.g
- Way of putting things
- Vernacular turn
- Under the weather, e.g
- Translator's hurdle
- Tough phrase for an interpreter
- TOEFL toughie
- Talk out of both sides of your mouth, e.g
- Take the cake, for example
- Take the cake, e.g
- Take a chance or take a look
- Strong suit or weak sauce
- Speech style
- Speaking style
- Shooting fish in a barrel, say
- Screw the pooch, e.g
- Quirky phrase
- One is "easy as pie"
- Native speaker's language
- Many a long crossword entry
- Many a long crossword answer
- Local saying
- Language oddity
- Kick the bucket, for example
- Jive or rap
- It's not literal
- In the wings or in full swing
- In the red or in the black?
- In a pickle or in a jam
- Hit the road, say
- Hit the nail on the head, e.g
- Hit the hay, say
- Hit the ceiling, e.g
- Hard-to-translate phrase
- Go for broke, e.g
- Get one's goat, e.g
- Form or variety of language
- Firing on all cylinders, e.g
- Figure of speech such as "It's raining cats and dogs"
- Figure of speech like "raise the roof" or "hit the ceiling"
- Figure of speech like "chewing the fat"
- Figurative phrase
- Feel blue or see red
- Expression not meant to be taken literally
- Down in the dumps, e.g
- Don't take it literally
- Cool beans or warm fuzzies
- Confusing phrase for nonnatives
- Cold shoulder or hot corner
- Challenge for translation
- Challenge for an interpreter
- Cash in one's chips or pay the ultimate price, e.g
- By the seat of one's pants, e.g
- Bit of dialect
- Bed of roses, e.g
- Beat around the bush, e.g
- A way of saying things
- “How are you?” for instance
- "When pigs fly" is one
- "When pigs fly," e.g
- "Up the creek" or "down the hatch"
- "Under wraps" is one
- "Throw in the towel," e.g
- "The devil is in the details," e.g
- "Talk turkey" or "eat crow"
- "Talk turkey" or "Chicken out"
- "Talk turkey," for one
- "Take the cake" or "cream of the crop"
- "Spill the beans" or "drop a dime"
- "Speak of the devil," e.g
- "Sitting duck," e.g
- "Rock and roll," e.g
- "Rob Peter to pay Paul," for one
- "Rings a bell," e.g
- "Red eye" or "green thumb"
- "Raining cats and dogs," for one
- "Put two and two together," e.g
- "Put on the dog" or "scaredy-cat"
- "Pound the pavement" or "break the ice"
- "Play it by ear" or "see eye to eye"
- "Piece of cake" or "slice of the pie"
- "Piece of cake," e.g
- "Over a barrel" or "under the weather"
- "On the ball" or "off the wagon," e.g
- "On the ball" or "off the grid"
- "Lose one's head" or "lose one's shirt"
- "Jump the shark" is one
- "Jump the shark," e.g
- "It's raining cats and dogs," for one
- "In the red," e.g
- "In the doghouse," for one
- "In seventh heaven" or "on cloud nine"
- "In my bag," e.g
- "In la-la land," e.g
- "In a pickle," e.g
- "Hot to trot" or "cool as a cucumber"
- "Horse around" or "rain cats and dogs"
- "Hit the hay" or "hit the road"
- "Hit the ceiling" or "drive up the wall"
- "Hang your head," for instance
- "Going to the dogs," for example
- "Go to the dogs," e.g
- "Full of beans" or "in a pickle," e.g
- "For one," for one
- "Fly off the handle" is one
- "Fall in love" or "fall to pieces"
- "Eat crow," e.g
- "Double talk" is one
- "Dog-tired" or "cat burglar"
- "Cut corners" or "slash prices"
- "Bite the dust," e.g
- "Beat a dead horse," e.g
- "Bad apple" or "big cheese"
- "Bad apple," for example
- "Ants in one's pants" or "bee in one's bonnet"
- ''Under the weather,'' for instance
- ''Fly off the handle,'' e.g
- ''Burn the midnight oil,'' for one
- Parlance
- Dialect of a region
- Spoken language
- Way of speaking
- Phrase-book entry
- Manner of speaking or writing
- "Going to the dogs," e.g.
- Expression that doesn't translate literally
- Challenge for a nonnative speaker
- "Up the creek," e.g.
- Unintuitive thing for language learners
- Peculiar expression
- Colorful phrase
- "Talk turkey," e.g.
- Language quirk
- Colloquialism
- Translator's obstacle
- Going to the dogs, e.g.
- By hook or by crook, e.g.
- For crying out loud, e.g.
- Translator's challenge
- Go for broke, e.g.
- Local language, say
- "Knock it off" or "get it on," e.g.
- Hit the ceiling, say
- Cut to the chase, say
- "In the raw," "in the red" or "in the running"
- No laughing matter, e.g.
- "Green thumb" or "purple prose"
- Jump the shark, e.g.
- Burn the midnight oil, e.g.
- "In the red," e.g.
- "Hot to trot" or "cold feet"
- "Dark horse" or "bring to light"
- Challenge for an E.S.L. student
- A manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language
- An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up
- The style of a particular artist or school or movement
- The usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people
- Language student's problem
- Speech form
- Characteristic style
- Philologist's interest
- Jargon
- Dialect of a people
- Language style
- Offbeat phrase
- Regional dialect
- Regional language
- Area dialect
- Lingo or dialect
- One concern of a grammarian
- Regional phrase
- Vocabulary characteristic of a specific group
- Mode of expression
- Man following retired woman’s turn of phrase
- Colloquial saying
- Characteristic mode of expression
- Expression of unwise person taking time off to get married
- One slow to comprehend old dialect
- Southern France backs introduction of old patois
- Form of expression
- Love encapsulated by one obscure turn of phrase
- Local linguistic usage
- I love to wear dumb expression
- Distinctive expression
- Dialect I'd picked up in Isle of Man
- Two girls upset about one’s form of expression
- Turn of phrase
- Turn of phrase in papers on Isle of Man
- Turn of phrase in papers I'm carrying round
- There's nothing in one stupid phrase
- Figure of speech such as "spill the beans"
- Local lingo
- "Talk turkey," e.g
- Common phrase
- Translating challenge
- Peculiar speech form
- Figurative language
- Figurative expression
- "In the doghouse," e.g
- Set phrase
- Language lesson
- Language learner's challenge
- Hit the sack, e.g
- "For crying out loud," e.g
- "Cat got your tongue?" e.g
- ''Going to the dogs,'' e.g
- Nonliteral expression
- Linguistic quirk
- Language peculiarity
- Down in the dumps, say
- Colloquial turn of phrase
- Colloquial phrase
- Challenge for a translator
- "Up the creek," is one
- "One for the books," for one
- "Hang one's head," e.g
- "Eat crow" or "talk turkey"
- "Burn the midnight oil," for one
- Tough phrase for foreigners
- Shoot the breeze, e.g
- Nonliteral phrase
- Non-literal expression
- Localised saying
- Language learner's hurdle
- It's just an expression
- It shouldn't be taken literally
- Immigrant's hurdle
- Fly off the handle, e.g
- Bite the bullet, e.g
- Barking up the wrong tree, e.g
- A manner of speaking
- "Piece of cake" or "easy as pie"
- "On the fence," for example
- "On easy street," e.g
- "Kick the bucket" is one
- "Hit the books" is one
- "Fly off the handle," for one
- "Eat crow" is one
- "Apple of my eye," for example
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Idiom \Id"i*om\ ([i^]d"[i^]*[u^]m), n. [F. idiome, L. idioma, fr. Gr. 'idi`wma, fr. 'idioy^n to make a person's own, to make proper or peculiar; fr. 'i`dios one's own, proper, peculiar; prob. akin to the reflexive pronoun o"y^, o'i^, 'e`, and to "eo`s, 'o`s, one's own, L. suus, and to E. so.]
-
The syntactical or structural form peculiar to any language; the genius or cast of a language.
Idiom may be employed loosely and figuratively as a synonym of language or dialect, but in its proper sense it signifies the totality of the general rules of construction which characterize the syntax of a particular language and distinguish it from other tongues.
--G. P. Marsh.By idiom is meant the use of words which is peculiar to a particular language.
--J. H. Newman.He followed their language [the Latin], but did not comply with the idiom of ours.
--Dryden. -
An expression conforming or appropriate to the peculiar structural form of a language.
Some that with care true eloquence shall teach, And to just idioms fix our doubtful speech.
--Prior. -
A combination of words having a meaning peculiar to itself and not predictable as a combination of the meanings of the individual words, but sanctioned by usage; as, an idiomatic expression; less commonly, a single word used in a peculiar sense.
It is not by means of rules that such idioms as the following are made current: ``I can make nothing of it.'' ``He treats his subject home.''
--Dryden. ``It is that within us that makes for righteousness.''
--M. Arnold.
--Gostwick (Eng. Gram.)Sometimes we identify the words with the object -- though by courtesy of idiom rather than in strict propriety of language.
--Coleridge. -
The phrase forms peculiar to a particular author; as, written in his own idiom.
Every good writer has much idiom.
--Landor. -
Dialect; a variant form of a language.
Syn: Dialect.
Usage: Idiom, Dialect. The idioms of a language belong to its very structure; its dialects are varieties of expression ingrafted upon it in different localities or by different professions. Each county of England has some peculiarities of dialect, and so have most of the professions, while the great idioms of the language are everywhere the same. See Language.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1580s, "form of speech peculiar to a people or place," from Middle French idiome (16c.) and directly from Late Latin idioma "a peculiarity in language," from Greek idioma "peculiarity, peculiar phraseology," from idioumai "to appropriate to oneself," from idios "personal, private," properly "particular to oneself," from PIE *swed-yo-, suffixed form of root *s(w)e-, pronoun of the third person and reflexive (referring back to the subject of a sentence), also used in forms denoting the speaker's social group, "(we our-)selves" (cognates: Sanskrit svah, Avestan hva-, Old Persian huva "one's own," khva-data "lord," literally "created from oneself;" Greek hos "he, she, it;" Latin suescere "to accustom, get accustomed," sodalis "companion;" Old Church Slavonic svoji "his, her, its," svojaku "relative, kinsman;" Gothic swes "one's own;" Old Norse sik "oneself;" German Sein; Old Irish fein "self, himself"). Meaning "phrase or expression peculiar to a language" is from 1620s.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context now rare English) A manner of speaking, a way of expressing oneself. 2 A language or dialect. 3 Specifically, a particular variety of language; a restricted dialect used in a given historical period, context etc. 4 An artistic style (for example, in art, architecture, or music); an instance of such a style. 5 An expression peculiar to or characteristic of a particular language, especially when the meaning is illogical or separate from the meanings of its component words. 6 (context programming English) A programming construct or phraseology generally held to be the most efficient or elegant means to achieve a particular result or behavior.
WordNet
n. a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language [syn: parlance]
the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people; "the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English"; "he has a strong German accent" [syn: dialect, accent]
the style of a particular artist or school or movement; "an imaginative orchestral idiom" [syn: artistic style]
an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up [syn: idiomatic expression, phrasal idiom, set phrase, phrase]
Wikipedia
An idiom is an expression with a figurative meaning.
Idiom may also refer to:
- Idiom (structural nature of language)
- Instrumental idiom, a concept in music
- Programming idiom, a concept in computer science
- Idiom Island, an island in Montana in the Yellowstone River
- Idiom, a company acquired by SDL PLC
An idiom (, "special property", from , "special feature, special phrasing, a peculiarity", f. , "one’s own") is a phrase or a fixed expression that has a figurative, or sometimes literal, meaning. An idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning. There are thousands of idioms, and they occur frequently in all languages. It is estimated that there are at least twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in the English language. Idioms fall into the category of formulaic language.
EXAMPLES: The following sentences contain idioms. The fixed words constituting the idiom in each case are bolded:
1. She is pulling my leg. - to pull someone's leg means to tease them by telling them something untrue. 2. When will you drop them a line? - to drop someone a line means to send a note to or call someone. 3. You should keep an eye out for that. - to keep an eye out for something means to maintain awareness of it so that you notice it as it occurs. 4. I can't keep my head above water. - to keep one's head above water means to manage a situation. 5. It's raining cats and dogs. - to rain cats and dogs means to rain very heavily (a downpour). 6. Oh no! You spilled the beans! / you let the cat out the bag - to spill the beans means to let out a secret. 7. Why are you feeling blue? - to feel blue means to feel sad. 8. That jacket costs an arm and a leg. – an arm and a leg means a large amount of money. 9. It is not rocket science. – not rocket science means something is not difficult. 10. Put a cork in it. - put a cork in it is an another way to say, "shut up!" (another idiom), be quiet, and stop talking. 11. I'm screwed. - ''to be screwed '' means that one is doomed, is in big trouble, or has really messed up. 12. I bet and/or I'll bet. - I bet and I'll bet are sarcastic ways of saying "certainly" or "of course".Each of the word combinations in bold has at least two meanings: a literal meaning and a figurative meaning. Such expressions that are typical for a language can appear as words, combinations of words, phrases, entire clauses, and entire sentences.
l. The devil is in the details. m. The early bird gets the worm. n. Break a leg. o. Waste not, want not. p. Go take a chill pill. q. I have butterflies in my stomach.Expressions such as these have figurative meaning. When one says "The devil is in the details", one is not expressing a belief in demons, but rather one means that things may look good on the surface, but upon scrutiny, undesirable aspects are revealed. Similarly, when one says "The early bird gets the worm", one is not suggesting that there is only one worm, rather one means there are plenty of worms, but for the sake of the idiom one plays along, and imagines that there is only one worm; alternatively, the figurative translation of this phrase is that the most attentive and astute individual, or perhaps the hardest working (or simply the first one) gets the desired outcome to a situation or the better product, depending on the context. On the other hand, "Waste not, want not" is completely devoid of a figurative meaning. It counts as an idiom, however, because it has a literal meaning and people keep saying it.
Idiom is "the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language". Idiom is the realized structure of a language, as opposed to possible but unrealized structures that could have developed to serve the same semantic functions but did not.
Language structure (grammar and syntax) is often inherently arbitrary and peculiar to a particular language or a group of related languages. For example, although in English it is idiomatic (accepted as structurally correct) to say "cats are associated with agility", other forms could have developed, such as "cats associate toward agility" or "cats are associated of agility". Unidiomatic constructions sound solecistic to fluent speakers, although they are often entirely comprehensible. For example, the title of the classic book English As She Is Spoke is easy to understand (its idiomatic counterpart is English As It Is Spoken), but it deviates from English idiom in the gender of the pronoun and the inflection of the verb. Lexical gaps are another key example of idiomaticness.
Usage examples of "idiom".
The pronunciation was barbarously alien, whilst the idiom seemed to include both scraps of curious archaism and expressions of a wholly incomprehensible cast.
Boston the idiom of choice for the male sex-organ is: Unit, which is why Ennet House residents are wryly amused by E.
My preface was in French, but full of Parisian idioms which rendered it unintelligible to all who had not visited the gay capital, and this circumstance gained me a good many friends amongst the younger generation.
Crebillon three visits every week, and from him I learned all I know of the French language, but I found it impossible to get rid of my Italian idioms.
But if the French laughed at my mistakes in speaking their language, I took my revenge amply by turning some of their idioms into ridicule.
Rough plaster walls, uneven red paver tiles underfoot, and exposed timbers over their heads placed them solidly in the Southwest idiom of architecture, even without the bright rug on one wall and a collection of Indian pottery arranged on a shaky-looking table, little more than lashed-together branches topped by unsanded planks.
Southwest idiom of architecture, even without the bright rug on one wall and a collection of Indian pottery arranged on a shaky-looking table, little more than lashed-together branches topped by unsanded planks.
My grasp of idiom is insecure or at least it does not have the fluidity which Scop himself has developed but it will do, it will do, my purposes at least are made clear to him in the sudden shifting of his features.
Although Rochelle adapted English idioms to Agro, the language itself followed a form patterned after languages of Latin derivation.
And to the popular and to the liturgical chants they went in search of their proper idiom.
Nonetheless, Franks considered himself an innovator, and had fashioned a unique idiom that was part military theory, part country.
Homer, should not leave some gloss of grecism upon the idiom into which so many of its greatest beauties had been transfused.
In fact, so great is the number of these words, idioms, phrases, and terms of speech derived from Guarani, that Dr.
He succeeded in mastering the idiom and the intonation of this foreign tongue, and his Parnassian accent can be discerned only by a trained ear.
Yet the positive institutions of the kings had blended themselves with the public and private manners of the city, some fragments of that venerable jurisprudence were compiled by the diligence of antiquarians, and above twenty texts still speak the rudeness of the Pelasgic idiom of the Latins.